The present invention relates to a raised floor panel for a raised floor system such as for a data center (computer room), the floor panels being adapted to mate with various existing raised floor systems either as a new or retrofit installation.
Raised floor systems include support stands for supporting floor panels above a building's structural floor, with a top of each support stand typically supporting the mating corners of four adjacent floor panels to create a raised floor over the building's structural floor. This allows flexible installation and distribution of cabling and wires, and also allows air conditioning to be funneled under the raised floor and into the room through apertured panels (also called “air grates”) at selected strategic locations in the room. However, raised floor systems provided by different vendors are not standardized. Therefore, replacement panels must be purchased from the original manufacturer of the raised floor system, or a replacement panel with customized corners must be made, since the corners of the replacement panel must matingly stably engage the configured top of the support stand in the existing raised floor system. Improvements are desired to allow replacement floor panels (including air-passing air grates) to mate with a wide variety of support stands of different existing raised floor panel systems, yet without the need for customized corners. Alternatively, improvements are desired that allow corners of replacement floor panels (including air grates) to be easily customized without numerous specialized parts and expensive components.